Maritime consultancy BMT has joined the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project as an ocean floor mapping partner.
BMT is a UK-headquartered, employee-owned company with a storied history, having been formed moved than 40 years ago from the merger of the British Ship Research Association and the National Maritime Institute.
The company has numerous office locations worldwide, including locally in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), which seeks to inspire the complete mapping of the world’s ocean, and to compile all the data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map.
GEBCO itself is a joint program of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and is the only organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.
Expanding across Australia and the APAC region
“BMT’s extensive maritime expertise and commitment to innovation make it a valuable addition to the growing network of organisations supporting the global effort to enhance our understanding of the ocean floor,” said Seabed 2030 Director, Jamie McMichael-Phillips.
“By bringing together knowledge, technology and expertise from across the maritime sector, partnerships such as this help strengthen the global ocean mapping community and accelerate progress towards a complete map of the world’s seabed.
“It is a pleasure to welcome BMT as the latest Seabed 2030 partner.”
“Through this collaboration, and by contributing to a broader international effort to map the seabed, BMT will contribute practical experience in maritime data collection, environmental science and digital systems to support Seabed 2030,” added Graeme Nayler, BMT’s Managing Director.
“As we continue to grow across Australia and the wider APAC region, complementary partnerships like this reinforce our focus on evidence-based decisions, resilient infrastructure and sustainable outcomes across the maritime domain.”
Cloud-based analytics for offshore insights
BMT will support the initiative through its maritime data and digital capabilities, including the Deep Blue Project and the BMT DEEP platform.
The Deep Blue Project combines autonomous surface vessels, metocean sensors, and advanced analytics to enable real-time maritime data collection for coastal monitoring, port operations and offshore renewable energy projects.
BMT DEEP is a cloud-based analytics and asset data platform technology that turns complex metocean and asset data into predictive insights to support offshore assets and coastal infrastructure.
“By contributing our data, engineering and digital innovation expertise to Seabed 2030, we can help make seabed information more accessible and actionable for the communities who depend on the ocean — supporting better-informed decisions and a deeper understanding of the marine environment,” said Dr Louise Bruce, Environmental Data Lead and Senior Principal Consultant at BMT.
Related reading:
Major update for Australia’s vast seabed map
Seabed mapping along Australia’s eastern coast
UWA Oceans Institute becomes a Seabed 2030 partner
